Methods and systems of configuring electronic devices

ABSTRACT

A system of configuring a new device may include a new device that is not configured with one or more settings. The new device includes a short range communication transmitter and programming instructions configured to cause the new device to operate in a discoverable mode. The system includes an existing device that is configured with the settings, and that includes a short range communication receiver and programming instructions. The programming instructions are configured to cause the existing device to receive instructions to set up the new device, in response to receiving the instructions, detect, by the short range communication receiver, a presence of the new device by detecting the broadcast signal within a communication range of the short range communication receiver, and in response to detecting the presence of the new device, transmit at least a portion of the one or more settings directly to the new device.

BACKGROUND

Typically, a user can configure a device by providing a username,password, code and/or the like associated with a user account, or othersettings to be associated with the device. In addition, it is possibleto configure a device with a single tap and have all relevant data sentover a secure connection established as part of the tap gesture.However, this process relies on near-field communication capabilities ofboth devices. There are many situations where near-field communicationis unreliable.

SUMMARY

This disclosure is not limited to the particular systems, methodologiesor protocols described, as these may vary. The terminology used in thisdescription is for the purpose of describing the particular versions orembodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope.

As used in this document, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skillin the art. All publications mentioned in this document are incorporatedby reference. All sizes recited in this document are by way of exampleonly, and the invention is not limited to structures having the specificsizes or dimension recited below. As used herein, the term “comprising”means “including, but not limited to.”

In an embodiment, a system of configuring a new device may include a newdevice that is not configured with one or more settings. The new deviceincludes a short range communication transmitter and programminginstructions configured to cause the new device to operate in adiscoverable mode by using the short range communication transmitter tobroadcast a signal. The system includes an existing device that isconfigured with the one or more settings, and that includes a shortrange communication receiver and programming instructions. Theprogramming instructions are configured to cause the existing device toreceive, from a user, instructions to set up the new device, in responseto receiving the instructions, detect, by the short range communicationreceiver, a presence of the new device by detecting the broadcast signalwithin a communication range of the short range communication receiver,and in response to detecting the presence of the new device, transmit atleast a portion of the one or more settings directly to the new device.The portion of the one or more settings is configured to set up the newdevice without requiring provision of credentials of the user.

Optionally, a new device may be setup via an application resident on theexisting device that is associated with the service provider. Theapplication may be a search engine application.

In an embodiment, the instructions to setup a new device may include oneor more typed instructions. Alternatively, the instructions to setup anew device may include one or more spoken instructions, and the existingdevice also includes a microphone configured to capture the spokeninstructions.

The settings may include one or more of the following: the accountcredentials, one or more WiFi credentials, one or more applicationsresident on the existing device, data associated with the one or moreapplications, one or more settings of the existing device, and one ormore user preferences. In an embodiment, the at least a portion of theone or more settings is further configured to setup the new device tohave a similar configuration to a configuration of the existing device.

The existing device may include one or more programming instructionsconfigured to cause the existing device to display the at least aportion of the one or more settings on a display device, and receive anindication from the user verifying that the at least a portion of theone or more settings be transmitted to the new device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for configuring a new deviceaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of configuring a new device according toan embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example graphical user interface according to anembodiment.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate example device configurations according tovarious embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example screen shot showing a mobile devicerequesting verification of WiFi credentials according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of example hardware that may be usedto contain or implement program instructions according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following terms shall have, for purposes of this application, therespective meanings set forth below:

A “computing device” or “electronic device” refers to a device thatincludes a processor and non-transitory, computer-readable memory. Thememory may contain programming instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, cause the computing device to perform one or more operationsaccording to the programming instructions. As used in this description,a “computing device” or “electronic device” may be a single device, orany number of devices having one or more processors that communicatewith each other and share data and/or instructions. Examples ofcomputing devices or electronic devices include, without limitation,personal computers, servers, mainframes, gaming systems, televisions,and portable electronic devices such as smartphones, personal digitalassistants, cameras, tablet computers, laptop computers, media players,televisions, smart televisions, smart wearable devices and the like.Various elements of an example of a computing device or processor aredescribed below in reference to FIG. 5.

An “existing device” refers to a device, such as a computing device, anelectronic device, a programmable device or a networked device, that isconfigured with one or more settings.

A “setting” refers to a configuration associated with a device. Asetting may be a user setting or a device setting. As another example, asetting may be a preference, an access privilege, a credential, anapplication, application data and/or the like. In certain embodiments, asetting may be associated with a user account such as, for instance,user account information, user account access information orcredentials, and/or the like.

A “new device” refers to a device, such as a computing device, anelectronic device, a programmable device or a networked device, that isto be configured using one or more settings of an existing device.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for configuring a new deviceaccording to an embodiment. As illustrated by FIG. 1, the system 100 mayinclude a new device 102, an existing device 104, a service providercomputing device 106 and one or more networks 108 a-N. In an embodiment,an existing device 104 is a computing device of a user that is alreadyconfigured with one or more settings. For example, an existing devicemay be a mobile phone that has already been configured with deviceand/or account settings.

In an embodiment, a new device 102 is a device that has not yet beenconfigured with one or more settings. For example, a new device 102 maybe a new device that a user has purchased or otherwise acquired.Examples of new devices 102 and/or existing devices 104 may include,without limitation, tablets, mobile phones, laptop computers, desktopcomputers, smart televisions, smart wearable devices and/or the like.

In an embodiment, a service provider electronic device 106 may be anelectronic device associated with a service provider. Examples of aservice provider electronic device 106 may include without limitation, alaptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet, a mobile device, aserver, a mainframe or other computing device.

As illustrated by FIG. 1, an existing device 104, a new device 102and/or a service provider electronic device 106 may communicate with oneanother via one or more communication networks 108 a-N. A communicationnetwork 108 a-N may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a mobile or cellular communication network, an extranet, anintranet, the Internet, a WiFi network and/or the like.

In various embodiments, an existing device 104 and a new device 102 maycommunicate via short range communication such as, for example, nearfield communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID),Bluetooth and/or the like. A new device 102 and/or an existing devicemay include a short range communication receiver 110, 112 and/ortransmitter 114, 116, such as, an RFID tag, a Bluetooth antenna, an NFCchip and/or the like.

In certain embodiments, an existing device 104 and/or a new device 102may include a microphone and/or one or more speakers. An existing device104 and/or a new device 102 may be configured to detect and respond toauditory or spoken commands. For instance, an existing device 104 mayhave a microphone that may capture one or more spoken commands of auser, and may translate the spoken commands into one or more actions.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of an example method of configuring anew device according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, an existingdevice may receive 200, from a user, one or more setup instructions toconfigure a new device. In an embodiment, an existing device may receive200 setup instructions via an application associated with an applicableservice provider. In an embodiment, the application may reside on theexisting device. For instance, an application may be one that ispreloaded on an existing device, or one that a user downloads to theexisting device. An example application may be a search engineapplication. In an embodiment, an application may be a web browser withthe user signed in to a user account.

In an embodiment, a user may open an application on an existing devicein order to provide setup instructions. In other embodiments, anapplication may run in the background or may not need to be opened inorder to receive setup instructions.

An existing device may receive 200 setup instructions that include oneor more typed commands or one or more spoken commands. The commands maybe the same regardless of how they are provided. For instance, providingthe command “OK, set up my device” to an existing device may be used totrigger the configuration of a new device. This command may be spoken ortyped. For instance, in the case of a spoken command, a microphone of anexisting device may capture one or more commands that a user speaksusing an application. In the case of typed commands, a user may providea command to the existing device via an application. For instance, inthe case of a search engine application, a user may type the command asa search query. FIG. 3 illustrates an example user interface showing acommand that is entered into a search field of a search engineapplication according to an embodiment.

In response to receiving 200 the instructions, an existing device maydetect 202 a presence of a new device that is to be set up. An existingdevice may detect 202 the presence of a new device using short rangecommunication. For instance, a short range communication transmitter ofa new device may broadcast a signal when the new device operates in adiscoverable mode. A short range communication receiver of an existingdevice may detect the broadcast signal when it is broadcast within acommunication range of the existing device's short range communicationreceiver.

Receiving 200 setup instructions from a user may trigger an existingdevice to scan for or otherwise try to detect the presence of a newdevice. Periodically or continuously scanning for the presence ofproximate devices may drain the battery of the existing device. As such,an existing device may not begin scanning or trying to detect a newdevice until it receives setup instructions.

In an embodiment, in response to detecting 202 the presence of a newdevice, an existing device may transmit 204 setting data to the newdevice. In certain embodiments, an existing device may verify settingdata before transmitting it to a new device. An existing device mayverify setting data by causing at least a portion of the setting data tobe displayed to a user, and asking a user to confirm that the displayedsetting data is to be transmitted to a new device.

Setting data may refer to information pertaining to one or more settingsof an existing device. For instance, setting data may includeinformation about a user account of an existing device, such as, forexample, account credentials. As another example, setting data mayinclude device settings of an existing device, such as, for example,WiFi credentials, location, language, date, time, time zone and deviceconfigurations. For instance, setting data may include information abouta visual layout of one or more applications on the existing device.

As another example, setting data may include applications present on theexisting device, data associated with applications present on theexisting device, and/or user preferences.

In various embodiments, an existing device may transmit applications andapplication data itself, or an indication of one or more applications,such as an application name, unique identifier and/or the like. Forinstance, an existing device may transmit binary data such as an Androidapplication package. If an existing device transmits an indication of anapplication to a new device, the new device may use the indication toobtain the corresponding application. For instance, a new device may usethe indication to automatically download the corresponding applicationto the new device.

An existing device may transmit 204 setting data to a new device usingshort range communication. As such, an existing device may transmit 204setting data directly to a new device without using a service providerelectronic device as an intermediary. The new device may receive 206 thesetting data, and may use the received setting data to configure 208itself. For instance, a new device may configure itself in accordancewith the received setting data. The new device may configure itself tohave a substantially similar setting configuration to that of theexisting device. For instance, the new device may include the sameapplications, the same visual layout, the same settings orconfigurations of the existing device or one or more applications of theexisting device and/or the like. For instance, FIG. 4A illustrates anexample configuration of a home screen 402 of an existing mobile device400 according to an embodiment. FIG. 4B illustrates an exampleconfiguration of a home screen 404 of a new mobile device 406 that issetup via the existing mobile device. As shown by FIGS. 4A and 4B, theconfiguration of both devices is substantially the same.

As another example, setting data may include WiFi credentials. Anexisting device may detect 202 the presence of a new device, and maytransmit 204 the WiFi credentials associated with the existing device tothe new device. The new device may use the received WiFi credentials toautomatically configure its wireless network connection. As anotherexample, if the setting data includes a geographic location, time,language, date, and time zone, the new device may configure its settingsto reflect the received geographic location, time, language, date andtime zone. Additional and/or alternate setting data may be used withinthe scope of this disclosure.

In various embodiments, if the setting data that is being transmittedfrom an existing device is associated with a user account, a user may beasked to verify one or more credentials associated with the user accountbefore the setting data is transmitted. For instance, a user may loginto a user account associated with a service provider using an existingdevice by providing one or more account credentials such as a usernameand password. The existing device may receive the account credentials,and may verify the account credentials. For instance, the existingdevice may transmit the provided account credentials to a serviceprovider electronic device, and may receive from the service providerelectronic device an indication of whether the account credentials arevalid. In response to validating the account credentials, the existingdevice may begin transmitting setting data to a new device.

The following provide examples of the configuration approach describedabove. In an embodiment, a user has her existing mobile phone and wantsto set up a new mobile device that is the newest model. The new mobiledevice may become discoverable while in a setup wizard. However, theexisting mobile device needs to know when to start scanning for the newmobile device's presence since scanning drains the battery of theexisting mobile device. A user may speak “OK, set up my device” totrigger the existing mobile device to begin scanning for the new mobiledevice. The existing mobile device may locate the new mobile device andmay transmit account data to the new mobile device. As such, the user isnot required to provide her account credentials to the new mobiledevice, and the new mobile device may be automatically setup to have thesame data configuration as the existing mobile device.

As another example, a user may use her existing mobile device associatedwith a service provider to configure a new television that is alsoassociated with the service provider. The television may support a smartsetup process for those who already have a device that is associatedwith the service provider. Once this setup process begins, thetelevision becomes discoverable and the user provides her existingmobile device with a setup instruction by typing “OK, set up my device”into a search engine application on the existing mobile device. Inresponse to receiving this instruction, the mobile device detects thetelevision, and causes the WiFi credentials associated with the mobiledevice to be displayed to the user on the existing device forverification. FIG. 5 illustrates an example screen shot showing a mobiledevice requesting verification of WiFi credentials according to anembodiment. As shown by FIG. 5, the mobile device causes the WiFicredentials to be displayed to a user on a display interface, andprompts the user to verify whether the WiFi credentials should be sentto the television. If the user indicates that the WiFi credentialsshould be sent, the mobile device transmits WiFi credentials to thetelevision. The television uses this information to configure itself.For example, the television uses the received WiFi credentials toconnect to the associated WiFi network. If the user indicates that theWiFi credentials should not be sent, the mobile device will not transferthe WiFi credentials.

As another example, a user may setup a new smart home device using amobile device. A smart home device may be an iOT-based device such as,for instance, a smart light bulb that can be programmatically switchedon or off from another device. As a headless device without any display,a smart light bulb needs to be setup manually through a companionapplication. But this capability can be embedded in the common operatingsystem. The user may power on the light bulb and may provide setupinstructions in its instruction manual to the mobile device by speakingthe command, “OK, set up my device.” This setup instruction may causethe mobile device to transfer WiFi credentials and/or other settings tothe smart light bulb, and thus configure the light bulb to communicatewith the mobile device.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of an example of internal hardware thatmay be used to contain or implement program instructions, such as theprocess steps discussed above, according to embodiments. A bus 600serves as an information highway interconnecting the other illustratedcomponents of the hardware. CPU 605 represents one or more processors ofthe system, performing calculations and logic operations required toexecute a program. CPU 605, alone or in conjunction with one or more ofthe other elements disclosed in FIG. 6, is an example of a processingdevice, computing device or processor as such terms are used within thisdisclosure. Read only memory (ROM) 610 and random access memory (RAM)615 constitute examples of memory devices or processor-readable storagemedia.

A controller 620 interfaces with one or more optional tangible,computer-readable memory devices 625 to the system bus 600. These memorydevices 625 may include, for example, an external or internal diskdrive, a hard drive, flash memory, a USB drive or the like. As indicatedpreviously, these various drives and controllers are optional devices.

Program instructions, software or interactive modules for providing theinterface and performing any querying or analysis associated with one ormore data sets may be stored in the ROM 610 and/or the RAM 615.Optionally, the program instructions may be stored on a tangiblecomputer readable medium 625 such as a compact disk, a digital disk,flash memory, a memory card, a USB drive, an optical disc storagemedium, such as a Blu-ray™ disc, and/or other recording mediumcontrolled via a disk controller 620.

An optional display interface 630 may permit information from the bus600 to be displayed on the display 635 in audio, visual, graphic oralphanumeric format. Communication with external devices, such as aprinting device, may occur using various communication ports 650. Acommunication port 650 may be attached to a communications network, suchas the Internet or an intranet.

The hardware may also include an interface 645 which allows for receiptof data from input devices such as a keyboard 650 or other input device655 such as a mouse, a joystick, a touch screen, a remote control, apointing device, a video input device and/or an audio input device.

It will be appreciated that the various above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirablycombined into many other different systems or applications orcombinations of systems and applications. Also that various presentlyunforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations orimprovements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in theart which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.

1. A method of configuring a new device, the method comprising:receiving, by an existing device that has a configuration of one or moresettings and via a search engine application resident on the existingdevice, one or more instructions from a user to set up a new device thathas not yet been configured with the one or more settings, wherein theone or more settings comprises one or more access credentials associatedwith a wireless network connection, in response to receiving theinstructions, detecting, by a short range communication receiver of theexisting device, a presence of the new device, wherein the new device isoperating in a discoverable mode by using a short range communicationtransmitter to broadcast a signal within a communication range of theshort range communication receiver; in response to detecting thepresence of the new device, transmitting, by the existing device, atleast a portion of the one or more access credentials directly to thenew device; and using the at least a portion of the one or more accesscredentials by the new device to automatically configure its wirelessnetwork connection without requiring a user to provide credentials tothe new device.
 2. (canceled)
 3. (canceled)
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the instructions to set up a new device comprise one or moretyped instructions.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the instructionsto set up a new device comprise one or more spoken instructions, and theexisting device further comprises a microphone configured to capture thespoken instructions.
 6. (canceled)
 7. (canceled)
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising: causing the at least a portion of the one or moresettings to be displayed by the existing device; and receiving, by theexisting device, an indication from the user verifying that the at leasta portion of the one or more settings be transmitted to the new device.9. A system of configuring a new device, the system comprising: a newdevice that is not configured with one or more settings, wherein the newdevice comprises a short range communication transmitter and programminginstructions configured to cause the new device to operate in adiscoverable mode by using the short range communication transmitter tobroadcast a signal; and an existing device that that has a configurationof the one or more settings, wherein the one or more settings comprisesone or more access credentials associated with a wireless networkconnection, wherein the existing device comprises a short rangecommunication receiver, wherein the existing device comprisesprogramming instructions configured to cause the existing device to:receive, from a user via a search engine application resident on theexisting device, instructions to set up the new device, in response toreceiving the instructions, detect, by the short range communicationreceiver, a presence of the new device by detecting the broadcast signalwithin a communication range of the short range communication receiver,and in response to detecting the presence of the new device, transmit atleast a portion of the one or more access credentials directly to thenew device, wherein the new device comprises one programminginstructions configured to cause the new device to automaticallyconfigure its wireless network connection using the access credentialswithout requiring a user to provide credentials to the new device. 10.(canceled)
 11. (canceled)
 12. The system of claim 9, wherein theinstructions to setup a new device comprise one or more typedinstructions.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein: the instructions tosetup a new device comprise one or more spoken instructions, and theexisting device further comprises a microphone configured to capture thespoken instructions.
 14. (canceled)
 15. (canceled)
 16. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the existing device further includes one or moreprogramming instructions configured to cause the existing device to:display the at least a portion of the one or more settings on a displaydevice; and receive an indication from the user verifying that the atleast a portion of the one or more settings be transmitted to the newdevice.